AP 2009-12-31（在线收听）

The city that never sleeps was brought to a standstill for a couple of hours Wednesday because of this: a white van that had been parked for some time in Times Square forced authorities to clear out a couple of blocks and buildings just to give the all-clear a little while later.

They just told us to evacuate the building. But then when we got into the lobby, they told us it was safe to go back up.

In that time, police had cleared the street, towed away another vehicle and conducted a thorough search of the van. They didn't find any bombs, just a bunch of clothes and other items. Still no one here was blaming the police for being too cautious considering the Detroit terror incident on Christmas and the big New Year's Eve blast in Times Square coming up. 

It's kinda scare, but I like the security though, it’s nice to see that.

The van in question didn't have any license plates, it also had a phony police placard in window and witnesses say it had been parked there for days. Authorities did find a temporary registration card and say they are tracking down the owner.